Eastern India’s Maritime Heritage

(Authors' Note: As the Indian Navy prepares to host the International Fleet Review 2026 at Visakhapatnam, Meluha Maritime is publishing a series of articles that highlight the maritime heritage and strategic significance of India’s eastern seaboard.

In this context, we are pleased to republish the article, first written in 2015 by Cmde Srikant Kesnur and Cmde Sushil Das. The article examines eastern India’s long and often overlooked engagement with the sea, spanning trade, culture, and seafaring traditions.

As Visakhapatnam once again takes centre stage in India’s maritime engagement with the world, this piece, written in 2016, places contemporary events within a deeper historical continuum.

Written by the authors for the Indian Navy Coffee Table Book,The Eastern Shield, this article is presented in its original form to preserve the authors’ perspective and intent.)

India’s unique peninsular character lends itself to an enduring relationship with the oceans and dates back to the 3^rd millennium BCE. India's East extends from our eastern shores all the way to the western shores of the Americas, and all that is there in between – the Bay of Bengal, the archipelagic stretch extending from Indonesia to the New Zealand; and the numerous choke points in the Asia – Pacific. In geographical terms however, it extends from India’s east coast upto the Western Pacific - north to Japan, China, and Korea, west to the second island chain and south to the west coast of Australia.  As early as 2000 BCE, trade and migration networks extended cross the Indian Ocean from the Middle East to East Africa, to India and Indonesia and further east. Even the Rig Veda, which records India’s earliest maritime activity, credits Lord Varuna - the mythical presiding deity of water - with the knowledge of ocean routes commonly used by ships, and describes naval expeditions using hundred-oared ships. 

Archaeological explorations and excavations on the east coast of India have brought to light a number of coastal structures such as dockyards, jetties, lighthouses, wharves and warehouses. Such structures have been identified at Poompuhar, Arikamedu, Dharanikota, Chilka and Mahabalipuram. Maritime activity was spurred on by a rich and fertile hinterland connected to the sea by wide navigable rivers. The Gangetic delta with its fluvial network opened many outlets into the sea. The large and fertile plain of Odisha arches towards the Bay of Bengal; similarly, the flourishing deltas of the Andhra coast have natural outlets of the rivers Krishna and Godavari. The Coromandel Coast of Tamil Nadu also provided havens for the development of ports.

Wheeler's 1945 excavation of Arikamedu

Underwater excavation, Poompuhar 

The ancient Indian text Silpasastra mentions two types of seaports namely Pattana and Dronimukha. Pattana were situated where cargo was loaded and unloaded and even today places having names such as Manikapatnam, Visakhapatnam, Masulipatnam and Nagapattanam refer a seaport. On the other hand, Dronimukha refers to a port situated near the confluence of the river and the sea. 

Archaeological excavations have brought to light the existence of docks, wharves and warehouses on the eastern seaboard at Kaveripattinam in Tamil Nadu, Dharanikota in Andhra Pradesh, Arikamedu in Tamil Nadu and lighthouses at Chilka in Odisha, Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu and landing places at Komar (Cape Comorin), Kolkhai (Korkai on the river Tambraparni in Tiruneveli), Kamara (probably Puhar or Poompuhar), Poduke (probably Arikamedu near Pondicherry), Sopatma (near Chennai) and Masalia (Masulipatnam) in Andhra Pradesh.

The movement of people, goods and ideas between the port cities of the Indian Ocean led to inter-civilisation encounters and cultural exchange. Peninsular Southeast Asia comprises Myanmar, Malaysia and the ‘Indo-China’ states of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Off the mainland are the islands of the Indonesian archipelago and Singapore. Influences on the cultural development and the social, religious and artistic ideologies of this entire region can be traced back to roots in ancient India.

The Seafaring Dynasties of India’s East

The Andhra Dynasty of Satavahana ruled from the 2^nd Century BCE to the 3^rd century CE covering the entire Deccan and Central India, with ports on both coasts of the peninsula. The Satavahanas had trade links with Kataha Dwipa (Kedah in Malaya), Karpura Dwipa (Camphor Island), Suvarna Dwipa (Sumatra), the Indonesian Archipelago, Rome and Mesopotamia. 

Lead coin of the Satavahana Dynasty, 2^nd century CE

Satavahana dynasty stone carving

Ancient Maritime Expeditions

Between the 5^th and 10^th century CE, the Kalinga kingdoms of Southern and Eastern India, established their rule over Malaya, Sumatra and west Java. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands were important transit points during their voyages across the ocean expanse. 

The Chola King, Raja Raja the Great (985-1012 CE) ruled from his capital near modern day Thanjavur. His son, Rajendra Chola Deva-I (1013-1044 CE), undertook a naval expedition against the Sri Vijaya dynasty of Malaysia to break their commercial monopoly. Tirumalai inscriptions of 1026 CE indicate his conquests of Sri Lanka and countless islands in the midst of the Indian Ocean. The Cholas encouraged sea trade by developing maritime infrastructure like navigation facilities, lighthouses, wharfs and repair yards. The region was called ‘Chola Mandalam’ which later became known as the Coromandel Coast. 

In the 14^th Century CE, the Pandyas of Madurai assumed the mantle of maritime activity. A description of an Indian ship of the period indicates a carrying capacity of over 700 people, giving a fair idea of both the shipbuilding skills and the seamanship prowess of Indian seafarers. During the same period, the Kakatiyas and the Reddis were also active with their fleets operating from Machilipatnam.

The Spread of Indian Culture

Near East and Indo-China

Myanmar

Since prehistoric times and during most of the 1^st millennium CE, the overland trade route between China and India passed through Myanmar's borders and merchant ships from India converged on Myanmar’s ports. Indian merchants brought with them religious, political and legal ideology along with precious cargo.  Within just a few decades of these first Indian merchants having arrived, Indian cultural traditions had remolded indigenous Myanmar’s society, philosophy and arts and craft.

Indonesia

India and Indonesia have had trade and cultural links over the last 2000 years beginning with Indian traders who were the first to arrive there in the 1^st century CE. The spread of Hinduism and Buddhism followed the established flow of trade. The earliest historical record of these ties is the archeological relic of a Ganesha statue from the 1^st century CE on the summit of Mount Raksa in Panaitan Island in the Ujung Kulon National Park, West Java. In recent years, three rough plinths dating from the beginning of 4^th century and recorded in the Indian Pallavi script were discovered in East Kalimantan. 

Ganesha statue, Indonesia

Pallava script inscription, Indonesia

Vietnam

Between 200 BCE and 938 CE, there existed a thriving maritime trade between China, India and Indonesia and Vietnam. Among the array of influences brought to Vietnam from India was Buddhism. While the Vietnamese aristocracy clung to Chinese Confucianism, the common people embraced Buddhism, adapting it to fit their own religious perspectives. The Hindu kingdom of Champa appeared around present day Danang in the late 2^nd century CE. This kingdom imbibed Indian culture through lively and vibrant commercial relations with Indian priests and literati. The Cham people adopted Hinduism, employed Sanskrit as a sacred language and borrowed heavily from Indian Art. 

Cambodia

Historically, India - Cambodia relations are a product of Hindu and Buddhist religious and cultural influences, emanating out of India during 4^th to 6^th century CE. Though Cambodia, like most of its neighbours, is a Buddhist nation, there is a strong influence of Hindu rituals, idolatry and mythology. The pervading influence of Hinduism, Buddhism and Indian architecture is evident in the architecture at Angkor Wat, Bayon, Baphuon, Angkor Thom and other religious and historical sites in Cambodia.  This is glorious testimony of the profound cultural and social basis of the India-Cambodia historical relationship. 

Angkor Wat Temple, Cambodia, an icon of Hindu influence in Indo-China

The Far East

China

The first credible record of Sino-Indian interaction is provided by the great Chinese historian, Si Maqian (100 BCE). Later, another Chinese historian, Ban Gu (32 CE – 92 CE), writes about Kashmir and its products like pearls, corals and lapis lazuli. Ban Gu’s book also mentions the sea route connecting the two civilisations, and certain states such as Huangzhi (identified as Kanchipuram) having brisk diplomatic and trade relations with China. Intense trade relations developed during Tang (618-907 CE), Song (960-1279 CE) and Yuan (1279-1368 CE) dynasties with Indian ships bringing astronomy, a calendar, medicine, and sugar manufacturing technology to China. 

Japan

Cultural exchanges between India and Japan began early in the 6^th century CE with the introduction of Buddhism from India. The Indian monk Bodhisena arrived in Japan in 736 CE and spread Buddhism and performed eye-opening of the Great Buddha built in Tōdai-ji. Buddhism and the intrinsically linked Indian culture had a great impact on Japanese culture, still felt today, and resulted in a natural sense of amicability between the two nations. Ancient records from the now-destroyed library at Nalanda University describe scholars and pupils who attended the school from Japan. One of the most famous Japanese travellers to the Indian subcontinent was Tenjiku Tokubei (1612 CE – 1692 CE), named after Tenjiku ("Heavenly Abode"), the Japanese name for India. Cultural exchanges between the two countries created many parallels in their folklore evident even today. Sanskrit, the classical Indian language used in Buddhism and Hinduism, is still used by some ancient Chinese priests who immigrated to Japan, and the Siddha script is still written to this day.

Australia

Ties between Australia and India began following European settlements in 1788. The Western Australian town of Australind (est. 1841) is a portmanteau word combining the names Australia and India. The towns of Cervantes, Northampton and Madura (est. 1876) were used for breeding cavalry horses for the British Indian Army during the late 19^th century CE. Madura's name is likely to have originated from the Tamil Nadu city, Madurai. The name of a famous Australian freshwater fish, the Barramundi has its etymology in the Indian words Bara Mundi, meaning ‘Large Head’.

The Australian roadstead town Madura, named after the Temple town of Madurai

The temple town of Madurai

Medieval Maritime History

The Arrival of the Europeans

During the medieval period (5^th to 15^th century CE), trade with the East Indies, as India was known in the West, was an Arabian monopoly which resulted in artificial scarcities and exorbitant prices in goods such as spices, silk, indigo and precious stones. These factors coupled with the Arab conquest of Constantinople eventually led to European seafarers setting out to chart a sea route to India. The first expedition to succeed was that led by the Portuguese adventurer, Vasco da Gama, who sailed via the Cape of Good Hope and landed in Calicut in present day Kerala on May 22, 1498. In the wake of this discovery, other European powers, notably the French, the Dutch and the British began sending ships, at first to trade but later to colonise the politically fragmented Indian subcontinent. Of all the European trading powers that came to India, history has shown the last of them, the British, to have been the most successful.

Vasco da Gama

The Colonial Powers Battle for Control

For several decades, the various European powers jostled with each other to establish a firm foothold in India. Every tactic was employed in their quest including bribery of the local rulers, turning one ruler against the other and building fortified bases to “protect” their trade interests. 

The Dutch set up the United Company in 1602 and succeeded in establishing trading posts at Machilipatnam, Nizamapatnam, Devapatnam, Bheemunipatnam, Tiruppapuliyur and Pulicat. They eventually deposed Portuguese rule and upgraded their commercial establishment to a Government headquartered at Pulicat, which was shifted to Nizamapatnam in 1689. Other settlements on the East Coast were Balasore, Chinsura and Kasimbazar (in Bengal).

Chinsura, on the River Hooghly, 17th century CE

The British on the other hand built a factory in Machilipatnam (1612) and a fortified base named Fort St George in Madras (1639) thereby laying the foundation for the Madras Presidency. In 1690, the Mughal government invited Sir Job Charnock to lay the foundation for a city on the banks of the Hugli (Hooghly) at Sutinati. This eventually expanded into the city of Calcutta. By 1696 Fort William was built and the Presidency of Bengal came into being. The dominance of the Dutch over the Bay of Bengal was challenged and subdued by the British by the middle of the 17^th century CE. 

Fort St. George today

In 1664, the French arrived on the east coast of India. Pondicherry emerged as a French settlement in 1674 and Chandernagar in Bengal established as a French trading post by 1690. By 1740, the French had fortified Pondicherry and subordinate outposts in Chandernagar, Masulipatnam and Karaikal. Continental rivalry between Britain and France extended to the Indian subcontinent leading to battles for supremacy in India as well. The final death knell to French ascendancy in India came at the hands of the British during the Battle of Plassey in 1757, leaving the British as the dominant power on the Indian sub-continent for the next two centuries.

Genesis of the Indian Navy

The Indian Marine – Early Years (1612 to 1686)

In 1661, the Bombay Islands were handed over to the British Crown by the Portuguese as dowry under a treaty of marriage between Charles II and the Portuguese Princess, Catherine of Braganza. The inhospitable trading environment in Surat due to heavy taxes levied by the Mughal Emperor, skirmishes with the Portuguese and the Dutch and the raids by the Marathas led to shifting of the Company headquarters from Surat to Bombay in 1686. The then Islands of Bombay had been leased by the Company from the British Crown in 1668 for an annual rent of 10 Pound Sterling. The name of the Marine Services was thus changed to the Bombay Marines.

Rise of the Bombay Marine (1686 to 1830)

By the time the East India Company established its headquarters in Bombay, the stature of the Bombay Marine as a fighting force was well established and its sole purpose was the protection of Company merchant shipping. One of the great contributions of the Bombay Marine was the hydrographic survey of uncharted coastline and rivers of the west coast of India. Since Indian built ships of teak were far stronger than those of the British, the Royal Navy inducted several ships built in the Bombay dockyard that proved their worth as some of the finest and toughest men of war. Among the better known ones were HMS Hindostan (1795), the frigates HMS Cornwallis (1800), HMS Camel (1806) and HMS Ceylon (1808). Two Indian built ships witnessed history in the making; the Treaty of Nanking, ceding Hong Kong to the British was signed onboard HMS Cornwallis in 1842. The national anthem of the United States of America, the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ was composed by Francis Scott Key onboard HMS Minden when the ship was docked at Baltimore.

The Royal Indian Marine (1830-1892)

On May 1, 1830, the Bombay Marine was renamed the ‘Navy of India’. This was necessitated by the demands for reorganisation and increase in stature of the Bombay Marine to bring it on par with the Royal Navy. In 1863 the Navy of India was restructured into a noncombatant service with two branches – the Bombay Marine and the Bengal Marine. Later, when Queen Victoria assumed direct rule over India, the Marines changed their name once again to ‘Her Majesty’s Indian Marine’ (1877 to 1892) with tasks including survey, maintenance of lighthouses and transportation of troops. The status of this force was temporarily upgraded to ‘combatant’ with the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914, but reverted after the war ended in 1918, to ‘non-combatant’. The defence of India’s vast coastline was again entrusted solely to the Royal Navy.

The Royal Indian Navy

With the threat of German and Japanese imperialism looming large over Europe and Southeast Asia and the Pacific, it was imperative that the British reinforce their positions over the oceans. To this end, the Royal Indian Navy was brought into being on October 2, 1934, with a separate Naval Headquarters at Bombay under FOCRIN (Flag Officer Commanding Royal Indian Navy). The RIN justified its existence when in recognition of its services it was honoured at the end of World War II with the King’s Colours. By this time, its strength had risen to include 117 combat vessels and 30,000 personnel. 

The Indian Navy

On August 15, 1947, when India attained Independence, the Royal Indian Navy was divided into two forces, the Royal Indian Navy and the Royal Pakistan Navy. With Pakistan inheriting a third of the naval assets, India was left with a composite fleet of 33 antiquated vessels, including five frigates and six minesweepers, along with 11,000 officers and men. India remained a British dominion till she became a Republic on January 26, 1950 after which the prefix ‘Royal’ was dropped and the Indian Navy came into its own. It was only much later, on April 22, 1958, that the Indian Navy appointed its first Indian Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral RD Katari. 

Cmde Srikant Kesnur and Cmde Sushil Das